Archive for June, 2010

…I’m getting a home owners warranty. Back in February, we found this house. My wife loved it, the kids loved it, I was nervous about the price. Eventually, through some discussion, we decided it fit within our budget and would be a great purchase. Our old house sold quickly, closing went smoothly and we moved in. Good times. We did all the things we were supposed to do, got the inspection, had someone check all the wear and tear items to make sure it was in workable condition. Everything was fine. We moved in late April, spent the weekend unpacking and started to enjoy the house.

On mother’s day, it snowed. We fired up the furnace and were met with an unfortunate noise. I’m not a plumbing and heating person, I don’t even dabble. My father-in-law is (retired) and happened to be here. After inspection, it was discovered we had a dead furnace. An unfortunate time considering that was the start of a week-long cold snap that found us borrowing space heaters from friends and staying warm. We knew the previous furnace was old and assumed we would need to replace it in a year or two but not in A WEEK OR TWO. We had a new furnace delivered later that week and it was installed over the weekend.

Of course, it got warm that weekend, warm enough to try out the air conditioner. When we moved in, it was too cold to test out the AC during inspection and the walk through. The previous owners assured us it was in good working condition. So we fired that up and next thing you know, we had a nice puddle in the basement. The assumption was a thermostat problem (again, I leave this stuff to the experts, I know drumming, project management and low-grade video production, not heating and cooling). We were able to sweat through a few weeks and the new thermostat was installed. Nope, same issue. Water wasn’t draining through the hose or something so it’s time for a new something or other on top of the unit. That should be installed tomorrow.

At least I can settle myself down with a cool drink. I just have to hurry to get the ice because tonight THE FREEZER BROKE! Remember back in 1986 when a younger Tom Hanks teamed up with Shelley Long in a movie called The Money Pit? Even Yakov Smirnoff makes an appearance in the movie “In Russia, House lives in you!” They bought this beautiful house for a great price only to have the stairs disintegrate, the tub fall through the floor, the electric start a fire, the trees in the yard all fall down, etc. I’m not saying we’re there, all I’m saying is he had much more hair in that movie than I do. Oh, and Shelley Long was always rather annoying.

In the grand scheme of things, we have good jobs, we’re healthy, we have food (except the frozen kind at the moment), and life is generally pretty good. My wife just reminded me of that. On the flip side, I’m debating sending a note to the previous owners to see what I should expect next. You know, just so I could be prepared. After all, if one of the refrigerators is going to go on the fritz, I’d like to have a party first so I don’t waste any good beer.